Children Maisie 'Mazie' Worsnop | Name Florrie Baldwin | |
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Full Name Florence Emily Davies Born 31 March 1896 ( 1896-03-31 ) Hunslet, Leeds, England Known for Oldest living person in Europe and second oldest living person in the world. Spouse(s) Clifford Baldwin (1920–1973, his death) Died May 9, 2010, Leeds, United Kingdom | ||
Florence Emily Baldwin (née Davies; 31 March 1896 – 8 May 2010) was a British supercentenarian who, at the time of her death, was the oldest living person in the United Kingdom and Europe and the second oldest living person in the world behind Eugénie Blanchard.
Biography
She was born on 31 March 1896 and said she remembered the Boer War. At the age of four she saw Queen Victoria when the queen visited Leeds. In 1920, she married painter and decorator Clifford Baldwin and moved to Woodhouse. After his death in 1973, Baldwin lived alone until she was 105, still being able to put up curtains and clean windows. She then moved to Radcliffe Gardens, a nursing home in Leeds.
She credited her longevity to eating a fried egg sandwich every day. However doctors reputedly thought it could be due to her job as a clerk at an engineering firm for fifty years, which she retired from at the age of 75. The company was based on top a steep hill in Woodhouse, Leeds. "She would walk up that hill, come home at lunchtime and then back up it" commented a grandson. Baldwin's daughter believes her mother's longevity was due to no drinking, no smoking and hard work. Baldwin spent time in hospital in her 70s due to cataracts.
Florrie Baldwin became the oldest living person in the UK from the death of fellow Aida Mason on 9 February 2007. Following the death of Italian woman Lucia Lauria Vigna on 28 June 2009, Baldwin became the oldest living person in Europe. Baldwin became the second oldest living person from the death of Japanese Kama Chinen on 2 May 2010, until her death six days later. Baldwin was in good health until the age of 111, when she began developing short-term memory loss which progressed into dementia and had very few memories of the past in the last months of her life.